Email unsubscribes and gardening … the lesson we didn’t know we needed

Email unsubscribes and gardening … the lesson we didn’t know we needed

While the idea of your garden magically weeding itself may sound appealing (because who really enjoys weeding?) it’s just not the case in reality. But when it comes to the “garden of email marketing,” email unsubscribes act as the natural pruning process, ensuring a healthier and more vibrant email list.

 

Stick with me here … 😉 Although weeding your garden and embracing email unsubscribes may seem unrelated at first, they actually share some surprising similarities.

 

Healthy Growth: In both cases, you’re nurturing healthy growth. Weeding allows your plants to thrive by removing unwanted competition, while embracing unsubscribes in email marketing helps maintain a clean and engaged subscriber list, allowing your messages to reach those genuinely interested.

 

Quality Over Quantity: Both practices emphasize quality over quantity. Weeding prioritizes the well-being of your chosen plants, ensuring they receive the nutrients and attention they need. Similarly, embracing unsubscribes focuses your email efforts on a genuinely interested and engaged audience.

 

Improved Performance: Weeding enhances the performance of your garden by reducing overcrowding and enabling each plant to flourish. Embracing unsubscribes improves email campaign performance by increasing open rates and click-through rates among subscribers who are genuinely interested in your content.

 

Pruning for Success: Just as you prune your garden to encourage healthier growth, embracing email unsubscribes is a form of pruning your email list. Both actions involve removing what’s not beneficial to make room for what is.

 

Long-Term Sustainability: Both practices lead to long-term sustainability. A well-tended garden can continue to thrive season after season, and a well-maintained email list ensures the sustainability and effectiveness of your email marketing efforts over time.

 

Cheers to your email campaigns flourishing as a result of some unsubscribes! 

Want to learn more about best practices for your email marketing efforts? Check out this blog post on timing and frequency! 

Refresh Mode ON: Giving Your Email Marketing Strategy Some TLC

Refresh Mode ON: Giving Your Email Marketing Strategy Some TLC

 

As we dive in to this “Back to Business” season, let’s give our email marketing strategies some TLC. From crafting compelling content to embracing automation, let’s revitalize our approach and make every email count. Here are some ways you can do that:

Segmentation and Personalization: Divide your email list into segments based on customer preferences, behaviors, and demographics. Craft personalized content that speaks directly to each segment’s interests and needs, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.

Automation and Triggered Campaigns: Implement automated email workflows triggered by specific actions or events, such as welcome emails for new subscribers, abandoned cart reminders, or personalized recommendations based on past purchases. This adds relevance and timeliness to your communication.

Clear Call to Action (CTA): Each email should have a clear and compelling CTA that directs readers to take a specific action, such as visiting your website, making a purchase, or signing up for an event.

Leveraging User-Generated Content and Customer Stories: Showcase authentic stories from your customers through testimonials, reviews, or user-generated content. This adds credibility to your brand, builds trust, and allows potential customers to connect with real experiences.

Mobile Optimization: Make sure your emails look great and are easy to read on mobile devices. 85% of recipients open emails on their phones, so mobile-friendly design is essential.

Need help with your email marketing strategy? Click here to schedule a call.

7 Most Effective Email Elements

7 Most Effective Email Elements

Some of the most effective and memorable emails are those that begin with, “This is a message from…” followed by an individual’s name. The realization that it was a personal email can significantly boost engagement, as people feel more connected to the sender.

But how do you gauge this kind of impact? How do you measure the effectiveness of an email marketing campaign?

To find out, Sender Score, an email evaluation service, surveyed more than 2,200 U.S. adults and asked them to rate the extent to which they found various elements of a company’s emails—such as personalization, frequency, and timeliness—to be effective in persuading them to engage. 

Respondents to the survey were able to select multiple options as their answers.

Below are the seven elements that respondents found to be most effective in increasing engagement. 

  1. The use of personal, branded salutations: 51 percent found this to be highly effective.
  2. Use of the recipient’s first name: 47 percent
  3. Personalized images and graphics: 44 percent
  4. Using a call-to-action button for direct responses (such as “shop now” or “download now”): 43 percent
  5. The use of a recognizable, branded sender name: 42 percent
  6. Offering useful content and product information: 38 percent
  7. Frequency (the number of emails sent per month): 37 percent

 

On the other end of the spectrum, responders also identified email elements that they found least or not at all effective. Here are the three most identified:

13 percent found the use of an attachment to be least effective. (Respondents were reminded that many email providers block attachments, so if a company sends one, there’s a good chance it won’t be seen.)

11 percent found the use of high-pressure tactics such as “unsubscribe now” to be least effective. (These tactics are widely considered to be unethical under CAN-SPAM laws.)

15 percent found ads and offers for other products or services to not be at all effective.

 

The takeaway? It’s important that your emails have a personal touch, include useful content, and are received in a timely manner. 

 

10 Tips for Effective Email Marketing

10 Tips for Effective Email Marketing

In the first post of this series on email marketing, I shared that your email’s content has a direct impact on conversions. Even with a great offer and compelling subject line, you won’t get very far if your copy isn’t well written. Here’s 10 tips to consider when creating a marketing email.

  1. They are personalized. Personalization can increase click through rates by up to 96%. When you send your emails from a company-branded domain name or use the recipient’s name within the copy, you’re going to see better results.
  2. They are mobile friendly. Since 85% of us check emails on a smartphone or tablet, it’s important that our email is formatted for easy reading on these devices. This includes short paragraphs, read more links, and sub-headers for skimming through.
  3. They include an enticing offer. Subscribers want to know WIIFM: what’s in it for me. So make it about them! Create a juicy offer they can’t refuse. And bonus: reward repeat customers by offering referral rewards or other bonuses.
  4. They have unique and interesting subject lines. One of the most critical components of a successful email campaign is the subject line. The inbox is a busy place and you want your email to stand out from the noise. A well-crafted subject line can help get your email opened.
  5. They include promotional codes or exclusive offers. If you’re offering an incentive, provide information on how to redeem it (offer codes, discount links). 
  6. They are timely. Watch your analytics to see what days and times you get higher open rates and schedule your future emails accordingly. Try A/B testing if you don’t already know your best days/times to send.
  7. They have an inviting design. I’ve touched on this in previous blog posts (like here and here) and we all know that the more visually appealing your email is, the more clicks you will get – especially when it comes to click throughs for mobile users. 
  8. They include images and videos. Including images and videos are proven ways to get more clicks because they appeal to the sense of sight, not just words. Research shows that including a video in an email campaign can increase CTRs by up to 60%!
  9. They have a compelling call-to-action. A call-to-action is what you want your reader to do when they’ve finished reading the content within your email – whether it’s to visit a website, download an app or make a purchase. If you can communicate that to them right away, you’ll get better results. 
  10. They are targeted to the right audience. Segmenting your audience and creating content just for them can increase your conversion rate by 760%. Segmentation is basically grouping your list based on specific criteria. You can segment your email list based on demographics, location, level of email engagement, previous purchases, and more.  

Takeaway: When designing your marketing emails, follow best practices for design and copy you’ve learned in this article. Be consistent with your style and ensure every email sent by your company looks professional.

 

What are your email marketing objectives?

What are your email marketing objectives?

There is no single answer to this question that works for every business. Objectives should be crafted according to the nature of your products and services, the ideal customer profile that you are targeting, and your business goals. Consider these examples of email marketing objectives and how to achieve them:

Increase traffic – Build brand awareness via email promotion of your website. Conduct surveys and research on what is most of interest to your customers and craft email content around this, with links to your landing page.

Increase conversion rates – Make a direct offer in the subject line and use follow up emails to provide additional information or convince customers that you are offering a product or service that is right for them.

Generate repeat business – Offer existing clients incentives to buy more of your products in order to increase the volume of sales and revenue.

Increase average order value – Offer existing clients incentives to place larger orders, or offer new customers an incentive to purchase higher-priced/bigger packages of items instead of lower-priced/entry level ones. (Think Kindle Fire vs. Amazon.com)

Improve customer service – Survey your customers about their ordering experience and offer feedback or special offers to improve your services.

Increase customer loyalty – Invest in surveys, contests, and social media interactions to understand what customers like about you and how you can improve your business.

Increase brand awareness – Use email marketing to promote your products and services via fun games, contests, and entertaining stories (i.e. Warby Parker’s blog posts).

Offer exclusive offers and discounts – Use email marketing to offer customers special exclusive offers and promotions. You can also promote the sale of products that are about to expire, or send messages directly after your holiday promotions to entice those last minute buyers (i.e. Amazon and Apple).

Promote your company culture – Share news and events with employees, clients, and customers. They will see that your company is an exciting place to work, and they are likely to want to be a part of this.

Email marketing can be a powerful tool. You may have several business objectives for launching an email marketing campaign. To be effective with email marketing, it’s important to think about why you are sending each specific email  and what is the objective you are trying to achieve. The type of email you are sending will depend on what your objective is for that occasion or audience.

If you’re struggling with reaching prospects and clients through email, feel free to reach out and we can work together to establish your email marketing objectives. Schedule a free 30-minute discovery call today: melaniediehl.as.me

7 Strategies to Optimize Your Email Marketing Campaign

7 Strategies to Optimize Your Email Marketing Campaign

Email is still one of the most effective marketing strategies. It helps you drive sales, generate leads, and boost your reputation as an industry expert. When it’s done right, email has a higher ROI than many other online marketing tactics.

Whether you’re sending out an email newsletter to your subscribers or promoting a new product on your website, these seven tips will help ensure that you get the most out of every campaign.

  1. Personalize Your Subject Lines

Yes, I want my free report!  No thanks, I’ve already read it!  Beauty tips!  The next big thing in tech!

Which email would you rather open? The one with a personalized subject line or the one that makes it seem like every other email you get? Your readers are much more likely to take an interest if they feel special. Whether you’re sending emails to your subscribers or developing a segmented list for your next email marketing campaign, personalizing your subject line can make a world of difference.

You can do this in a couple different ways:

  • Use the recipient’s first name and last initial (John P.)  or include their job title (Customer Service Representative).
  • Ask questions that are directly related to something they’ve already done on your website.
  • Refer back to something that was mentioned previously or a question they may have asked.

 

  1. Write Persuasive Subject Lines

When you look at the previews in Gmail, what do you click on? The no-brainer offers with big discounts? Or the funny headlines and pictures? Personalized subject lines get you to open your emails, but persuasive headlines ensure that you actually read them. Here are a few tips for writing perfect subject lines:

  • Keep it short and sweet.  Short paragraphs with no more than five sentences will grab your reader’s attention and keep them from getting bored.
  • Pique their interest.   A/B test headlines to see what kind of results you get. In one email campaign with a segmented list, I was able to increase conversion rates from 3% to over 20% just by adding one additional line of text that hinted at the promotion. “Want more leads? Try our new lead generation tool” was much more appealing than “Get your own lead generation tool”.
  • Tell them exactly what they’ll get for taking action.  Does your email include an ebook? Give it a title that lets people know exactly what they’re getting and include the word “free” or “download” in the description if you want to drive extra traffic. If you’re giving away a sample of your product, make sure you mention that. Use dynamic text to change the price depending on whether they’re a paid subscriber or not.
  • Include an image.  Visual content is much more appealing than plain text and it’s proven to cut your bounce rate in half. When people see a picture, their eyes are instantly drawn to it and they try to guess what you might be trying to get them to click on. This can have the added benefit of persuading people who are reluctant about buying, especially if there’s a problem or concern that they’re trying to work out in their mind before they make a decision.

 

  1. Make it Easy to Share Email Campaigns

If you’ve done a good job of providing valuable content that your subscribers will enjoy and want to share with their friends, then you can significantly increase the number of people who see your email by adding social media buttons to the email. This way, if someone does like what they receive, it’s very easy for them to share it with their friends.

There are a couple different ways you can do this:

  • Embedding social bookmarks lets you add in icons that people can click on to like, tweet, and share your content. This is my favorite option because it’s easy to do (a lot of email marketing companies can provide this as an add-on) but you have limited room for text so you may not be able to fit everything that you want if your email has a long subject line or lots of images.
  • Adding social sharing buttons to the email is another great option.  You can add these buttons directly into your email template or you can put them as a link at the end of your campaign.

 

  1. Use High Value Images

Don’t send out an email that’s text heavy and make sure you offer some sort of visual content. The average email is at least 1/3 images so if you want to stand out from the crowd, make sure they’re high quality and relevant.

 

  1. Provide a Compelling CTA (Call-To-Action)

If you’ve done everything right up until this point, your call-to-action should be obvious.  If you’re sending an email to announce a new product, promote a webinar or give away freebies, there should be no doubt in your subscriber’s mind about what they’re going to click on.

But how do you get your subscribers to convert? Studies have shown that emotional words like “guarantee” and “free” are more likely to persuade people to take action. One study found that including the word “free” in your CTA button increased clickthrough rates by 410%.

 

  1. Send it at the Right Time

In order to increase open and click-thru rates, you need to send emails when most of your subscribers will be looking at their inbox.

Timing also plays an important role in determining how your email is received. The average CTR for emails sent between 4-5 PM is around 9%, but the number jumps to over 17% in the evening.

According to MailChimp, Fridays and Saturdays are the worst days to send out emails so that’s when you should make sure not to send yours.  Tuesday and Wednesday morning is prime time with a 20% increase in open rates for the first two hours of business, then things really pick up after lunch (when most people check their email one last time before leaving for the day) and more than double around 3 PM.

 

  1. Find Out If Your Email Got Opened

You can use your email marketing provider to see when someone opened the email, how many times it was forwarded or clicked on a link within, who actually clicked through from social media and even what time of day they opened it. Use this data to better understand your subscribers and increase the effectiveness of future campaigns.

 

So there you have it, 7 strategies to optimize your email marketing campaigns.   If you keep these points in mind, you’ll be able to write better emails and get more subscribers.